Pages

Tuesday, 30 September 2014

AS well as a music career that includes a top 30 album, Lewis Watson will soon be appearing on the big screen in a film version of John Niven's cult Britpop novel, Kill Your Friends.

It's set in London during 1997, with the British music industry enjoying a winning streak and A&R man Steven Stelfox enjoying the fruits of it, with an expense account, drugs and parties... until he turns to murder.

Watson, aged 21, who grew up in Oxfordshire, joins the likes of Nicholas Hoult and James Corden in the film.

"I think the book is brilliant and when I was approached to do it, I jumped at it," he recalls. "I've never acted before and I'm terrible at it," he adds, laughing.

AS well as a music career that includes a top 30 album, Lewis Watson will soon be appearing on the big screen in a film version of John Niven's cult Britpop novel, Kill Your Friends.

It's set in London during 1997, with the British music industry enjoying a winning streak and A&R man Steven Stelfox enjoying the fruits of it, with an expense account, drugs and parties... until he turns to murder.

Watson, aged 21, who grew up in Oxfordshire, joins the likes of Nicholas Hoult and James Corden in the film.

"I think the book is brilliant and when I was approached to do it, I jumped at it," he recalls. "I've never acted before and I'm terrible at it," he adds, laughing.

"But I really enjoyed it and I can't wait to see the film – and the 30 seconds I'm in it!"

Watson has been steadily building his profile over the past two years, touring heavily and releasing five EPs, all of which have reached the iTunes top ten.

His debut album, The Morning, released in June, went straight into the UK chart at No. 28.

"It's the dream of anybody who loves music to be able to create and play music for a living," says Watson, who started playing the guitar when he was given one for his 16th birthday.

"I never thought it was achievable. I got very lucky because I kept at it."

Ideas for his songs come easily, he says.

"They come from people I've met, songs I've heard, books I've read, because of somebody I've seen crossing the road, or a melody I've heard in a film I watched the night before... it's incredible.

"I think that's what I love so much about music: you go from having nothing to having a song."

Watson plays the Rescue Rooms on Thursday, supported by Nottingham's Amber Run, who are signed to RCA.

It's not Watson's first visit to Nottingham.

"We've been three times already and I've loved every show," he says.

" For some reason, we get a massive response in Nottingham and yet I have no link to the city.

"It's one of my favourite places to play; I always love coming back."

The date is part of his largest tour so far.

"I'm not nervous about it. We did eight tours last year and I love it.

"I think we're stepping it up a bit this time. I've gone a bit bigger with the arrangements and I can't wait for people to hear them.

"A few of the shows have already sold out. Yeah it's amazing," he says.

"Each time we tour we step up the venue size, so for it to be selling out – or very close to selling out – is incredible.

"I'm a very lucky guy."

Lewis Watson plays the Rescue Rooms on Thursday, October 2, 7pm to 10pm, with support from Amber Run, £11, 0845 413 4444, alt-tickets.co.uk

Monday, 22 September 2014

Here’s
some helpful tips to help you through your year that no one will ever tell you.

Pre-drinks: Back at home, this was never a thing.
You would get ready, go out and get smashed. But now you’re a poor student,
it’s a night out essential and can sometimes be better than the night out
itself. Pre-drinks also involved A LOT of drinking games; the ever-telling
‘never have I ever’ is where you learn that your housemate had sex with someone
in a fast food joint and ‘The ring of Fire’ where you end up drinking shot upon
shot of absinthe (really would not recommend). You will live for the pre-drinks
– however your hangover the next day tells a different story.

Don’t buy text books straight away: This is definitely one for the
freshers. You may think you’re smart getting all your books in early but out of
those 15 you've brought, you’ll probably use a grand total of two. The library
is a god send so use that as much as possible! Think of the jagerbombs you’ll
be missing out on if you get that ‘important’ text book and then realise you've
been using it more as a coaster than a research method.

You never sit at the front of the
lecture theatre: Ok, this does vary through the year. As fresher’s, you may
want to make an impression and sit at the front but as the year progresses (and
you begin to experience nights out in the week) you slowly shuffle to the back.
The only ones that sit at the front are either late and have nowhere else to
sit or the ones that you wonder ‘how the hell did you get on this course?’

Once
in your stay here at University, you will do the walk of shame: It doesn’t even have to be post-coitus related; for the commuters out
there, this will happen quite a lot. The amount of times you’ll get asked to go
out after your last lecture & realise you have no fresh clothes for the
morning after is ridiculous. A top tip to avoid this is to always keep a spare
set of clothes at one of your best friend’s house. Also, if you do happen to do
the walk of shame – walking through the campus at 10am is not a good idea.
People will stare and snigger. Just no.

About Me

The small town country girl who is obsessed with beauty and fashion.
My name is Lauren Lee & I am a print journalism student at Nottingham Trent University
Please, follow me! and explore my version of events.